The chief executive of China Aviation Oil, Chen Jiulin, penned a poem as he travelled from China into the hands of the waiting Singapore police. It probably loses something in the translation, but it goes something like this: “With a peaceful mind I face all the crimes alleged against me; I blame myself for errors made, although I did do my best for the public.”

It is tempting to take words penned in a foreign – and to those of us in Europe and the US, exotic – language and render them with